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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26258620">open road</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayprentiss/pseuds/gayprentiss'>gayprentiss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>gay escapism jemily [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Growing Old Together, Married Couple, Old Married Couple, and love each other a lot, they live in a van</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:00:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26258620</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayprentiss/pseuds/gayprentiss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>after retiring from the bau, jj and emily decide to forgo an apartment in favor of an old sprinter van</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>gay escapism jemily [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907734</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>open road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>it was one thing to travel for work, and it is entirely another to travel for fun</span>
  </em>
  <span>, jj thinks. when she retired from the behavioral analysis unit, citing old age and an overall exhaustion with the field, everyone had expected her to finally settle down in a nice suburban house and just </span>
  <em>
    <span>stay put.</span>
  </em>
  <span> and for a second there, she did. jj had promptly relocated from her lonely pad into emily’s apartment, where emily’d been nesting since her prior final departure from the bau. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>jj’s presence brought the light emily was missing in the dingy apartment. within the first week of living there, jj promptly bought emily new pillows--the old ones were were so </span>
  <em>
    <span>flat, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and jj had been frustrated with them for a while. but now that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>lived</span>
  </em>
  <span> there she had some semblance of jurisdiction and could finally make the change. emily welcomed this change and most others wholeheartedly. where jj was a pro at practical apartment matters like pillow density and where to hang photos, emily was a pro at creative matters, like choosing the pillow covers and which photos to hang. jj nearly cried when emily came home one day with photos of their friends and former coworkers printed in vibrant colors to decorate the living room with. all in all, the pair worked together perfectly in making the previously vacuous apartment feel like a home where the two could stay forever. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>stay they did, falling into domestic routine until their faces began to wrinkle and emily’s hair turned to gray. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(“you’re so lucky you’re not going gray,” emily pouted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “don’t say that!” jj protested, carding her fingers through emily’s hair. “i think gray makes you look even sexier.”)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>they were sitting on the couch, staring at a turned-off tv, nursing warm mugs of coffee when emily suggested it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“are you bored?” she asked, turning towards the blonde woman beside her. jj pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them gently. it was such a simple action, but so endearing to emily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“you’re bored of me, em?” jj replied softly, tone good-humored. emily could never be bored of her, and jj is confident in this.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“of d.c.,” emily responded, nudging jj’s leg with her foot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“you want to move?” jj said. emily shook her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“not in the traditional sense of the word ‘move…’”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>emily drove home a beat up sprinter van the next day. jj nearly had a heart attack seeing the state of it, but emily reassured her with plenty of kisses against her shoulder and vehement promises that she could fix it up. and fix it she did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>it took months. months of mapping where the bed would go, where the bathroom would go. months of emily in tiny tank tops with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, working outside. months of homemade lemonade with ice clinking against the glass. months of planning, of “where will we go?” and “how long will we stay?” months of cabinet installations and pvc pipes and trips to the hardware store. months of sweaty bodies from the summer heat and months of sweaty bodies from...romance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>on the final day of work on the van, jj came home from running errands with a surprise for emily. it was simple, small enough to be pressed into her pocket. emily had finished with  the van for the day, locked it up, and tossed the keys onto the kitchen counter. it was finally ready to be taken out, lived in--</span>
  <em>
    <span>loved</span>
  </em>
  <span> in, and emily felt full with accomplishment. she was fluttering around the box-filled kitchen, trying to come up with something for dinner, when jj pushed open the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“hi em,” she said, wrapping her arms around her wife’s neck and pressing multiple firm kisses to her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“hi, my love. i missed you,” emily murmured against jj’s lips. jj snaked her hand from around emily and pulled the tiny air freshener out of her pocket; a yellow tree in a plastic packet, citrus scent locked inside. but it was more than just an air freshener to jj, and she knew that emily would understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“the finishing touch,” emily grinned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “the finishing touch,” jj replied in confirmation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>it took the pair a little bit longer to finally make the transition from large apartment to tiny van. there were many arguments about how many pairs of shoes one woman actually needed and about whether or not it was feasible to get a cat on the road. but once they’d committed, settling into the front seats of the vehicle and driving away from their apartment for the final time, the excitement in the air was palpable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“where do you want to go, my love?” emily asked jj as she pulled out onto the open road. emily knew they were headed to oregon, for now. they had that part planned since day one. but it was less about the destination, and less about the literal sense of the question, and more about the freedom the pair now shared. they could go wherever they wanted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>jj rolled down her window, watching the familiar sights pass by. her blonde hair whipped in the wind as she replied, “anywhere.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p>
  <span>jj sits on her bed with a book in hand, the back doors of the sprinter van she and her wife call home wide open, granting her a beautiful view of the beach in front of her. emily frolics in the waves a distance away, old age never once taking away her zest for life. </span>
  <em>
    <span>it was one thing to travel for work, and it is entirely another to travel for fun</span>
  </em>
  <span>, jj thinks. her heart beats a little faster thinking about how much she loves the woman before her. her silver hair glistens under the sunlight. jj had opted to stay back in the van and participate in serene observation of the scene before her, but she’s overwhelmed with love and can’t sit still without emily for one more minute.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“i love you!” jj calls from her spot, jumping down from the back of the van. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“come here, then!” emily calls back, opening her arms wide as if to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>“look at this world we have just for us; come enjoy it with me.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>jj makes sure she’s locked the vehicle behind her. once she has that confirmation, she breaks into a sprint as if she’s 17 again. her joints will scream later, she knows, but she’s got to beat the clock to win the race. but there’s no gold medal at the end of the track: there’s something better.  emily, with a smile that splits her face, arms still outstretched, ankle deep in salt water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>jj meets emily in a tackling hug, and they stumble for a second before regaining their balance. the wind whips jj’s long hair around the both of them, and their lips meet in a fervent kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>when they pull away, emily is the first to speak. “i love you too, by the way.” </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
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